Time Planning

I used this grid to plan when and where I should be doing each shoot, also to record what costume and props should be taken to each place for the model.

My final double page spread

This is my favourite page, I think it has a lot of personality behind it and looks really good. This page has also changed from my initial idea, orignally the picture was supposed to take up two thirds of the page, a convention all the double-page spreads I looked at during my research used. I was advised against this by my teacher so I had more room for my interview. I chose to have a black background for this page and I think this is quite effective as it makes the lighting stand out in the picture and the white and pink writing has a really nice contrast.

My final contents page

This page is the one that stuck most to the initial plan, the only thing I have really changed here is moving the pictures to the top and pushing the 'in this issue...' heading to the bottom of the page. Having the title at the bottom of the page I think makes it a bit different to my style models, as I felt like I was stealing a majority of the conventions used. This feature is something that would be used in every issue and this gives the page a trademark look. I used the font LeviBrush which I used as one of my siggestions when planning the page.

My final cover page

 

 

This is my final cover page. As I made the cover all my ideas developed and it is actually very different from my initial design. I didn't bother re-drawing the structure up as I felt it was much easier to just play around with the features to experiment with what looked best. I decided after taking my pictures that I wanted to use this head-shot for the cover, as opposed to a mid-shot which I had originally planned to have on the cover. I also decided to have a banner across the top of the page, which was inspired by a NME cover I looked at, I think this makes the page look much more put together and complete. I also moved the barcode and date to the top of the page to fill the gap in the right-hand top corner and allow the 'Amy O'Reilly RISING STAR' slogan to stand out more. I am happy with this cover as I feel it follows conventions and forms used in real media products of its type.

Selecting fonts

I used a free font website called DaFont to find the fonts I wanted for my magazine before downloading them.


For the title of my magazine I have used the font '28 days later'. It is a block/stencil print, sprayed effect font that looks intentionally messy and rough. I think this suits the magazine name 'envy' and it will resemble my target audience of women in their 'freedom years' who don't really care.

A font I'm using throughout my magazine for titles, headings, ect. is called 'LeviBrush'. This is similar to '28 Days Later' as it has an edgy, messed-up feel, except it allows lower-case letters to be used and is more free hand looking. It also has more of a brushed/splattered effect. I chose this font as it reminded me of a font used on the cover of the re-invented version of Company magazine - one of my style models aimed at a similar audience.

A font I have used for the name of my cover star is called 'Sunshine In My Soul'. I chose this font because it looks like handwriting, as if the cover star has signed the font cover of the magazine. I'm also using this font on my double page spread. It was difficult to select a specific handwriting font as there are so many to choose from that have different identities and looks. I chose this one as I felt the phrase 'sunshine in my soul' reflected the sort of persona portrayed in my interview with Amy and the pictures taken and this comes through in the style of the font.

Writing my interview for the double-page spread

To do this I read alot of women's magazines with interviews and also music magazines. I looked at the sort of style that is used and the kind of questions asked. I ended up writing it the style of a Company interview with Florence Welch as I felt it represented what women would like to know but also was to do with music, as Florence is a musician. Instead of questions it was like a series of headings with comments by the interviewee.


 

It’s been a hectic year.

It’s all just gone really fast, a lot faster than I expected it to happen. One minute you’re nobody and the next you have so many opportunities, everybody knows your name and everybody wants a piece of you. It can be really scary.

What can’t she do?

I’ve been singing since I was really young, I get that from my mum. I learnt to DJ as I got a bit older and the people I made friends with in college were into that sort of thing.

The tune I can’t get out of my head.

Greyhound by Swedish House Mafia – its really powerful and it just makes me want to dance and go crazy.

The punk-girl look.

Everybody asks me about my look, obviously it’s quite personal and unique, it has adapted over the last year as I have become more aware of how I am constantly being watched and criticized. I never really used to care much about what I wore; I dressed for myself and wore clothes I felt good in. But being where I am you have a constant reminder that you are being watched and you do find yourself dressing for other people. I’ve managed to stick to my own style and I am still comfortable in my own skin.

Piercings and tats.

I have a few piercings; my nose, ears and tragus. I’d have loads more but I am a total wuss and hate needles, they really creep me out. I have a tattoo which I got really soon after I turned eighteen, my mum was shocked and tried her hardest to convince me to wait but it was really important to me. It’s across my side on my ribcage, it says ‘if at first you fail at least you failed whilst daring greatly’ which really means a lot to me.

My girl-crush isRita Ora. I love her edgy urban look, and her hair is incredible.

The best advice I was ever given was by one of my closest friends. A few years I went through some quite stressful situations where I was just constantly worrying about what was going to happen next and whether I would be happy, I was always trying to make everything perfect. He told me to just chill out and only worry about being happy at the present moment, not get wrapped up in things that haven’t even had a chance to happen yet.

In the future I hope to be successful and happy. I don’t want to worry about it for the moment, I’m happy today and that’s what matters.

I dream of playingtomorrowland.

Don’t tell anybody, but my guilty pleasure is Keeping up with the Kardashians. I just love them, I don’t care what anybody says, they are hilarious! The ideal night in is curled up on the sofa, eating pizza and watching as much of a series as I can manage. Bruce is my favourite, he gets so picked on, bless.

You’ll never find me eating cereal. Ew, no way.

Target audience' preferred photo edit

I walked around school with printed versions of my two photo edits and asked members of my target audience which edit they preferred. As those who selected edit 2 were much more limited I asked them why they had chosen this version, they said they liked it more because it seemed more natural, which isn't often shown in magazines. This, I think, stregthens the choice to use edit 2 as I am looking to imitate conventions of real magazines.

Editing pictures

To edit the photographs I took for my magazine I used Adobe Photoshop. I had never used it before so I took some time playing with the different editing tools and features. I practiced using the programme with my cover photo.



This is my original picture. As you can see, this is not a perfect picture. The model has red eyes, blemishes and imperfections. The lighting is also really dull and casual, not like any picture you'd see in a magazine.

Edit One

This was my first attempt. I used the red-eye reduction tool first to remove the red eyes that were caused by the camera flash. Then I used the spot healing brush-tool to clear up the complexion, however I found that I was still left with an uneven looking skin tone as the flash captures all your imperfections. So I used the smudge tool to attempt to blend skin discolourations and patchiness that was highlighted by the camera flash.

Edit 2

In my second edit I started by doing similar proceedures; I removed blemishes and red eyes from the picture. I used the smudge tool much more sparingly, I used it in the eyebrows to give them a much smoother look. I then changed the contrast and light, which made the hair darker, skin lighter and red lips brighter.

Taking Pictures

I had my friend Amy model for pictures as I wanted to use her on my cover and double page spread. I had to choose a specific look to create the right vibe for the magazine; Amy already has quite an edgy look - she has peircings and big, auburn hair - which is what shaped the theme of the photographs. I dressed her in a black jumper with a big white skull on the front, leggings and bright purple Dr. Martens. She put her hair up in a big messy style and wore smokey eyes and red lipstick, to acheive a grungy, glamrock look.

We were in the middle of decorating my house so I decided to take some pictures on the uncarpeted stairs to build atmosphere and character. I think this was quite effective in representing the type of character Amy might be as a musician. I am likely to use one of the stair pictures for my double-page spread.

Double page spread: inital idea

Contents: initial idea

Cover: Initial Idea

Final Idea

My magazine will be monthly. It will be themed around house music, but also will encorporate more popular artists. It will have an edgy, care-free and youthful vibe to reflect my readership - I will acheive this through content, cover stars, fonts, colours and house style.

• Target audience: After deciding in my initial ideas I wanted a more feminine unisex magazine, I have since decided it will be a women's music magazine. I made this choice as I feel it would be easier for me to appeal to women, having read lots of women's magazines and being a woman myself. I also notice that most music magazine's have a primarily male audience demographic. The audience are aged 18 to 25, so they are just entering the adult wold and taking advantage of all the new freedoms and opportunities they have, such as clubbing and festivals. They aren't likely to be married or have children. They will be interested in house music, but also current popular music.

• House-Style: My house-style will be messy and look care-free, to reflect my target market. I will acheive this look by using suitable fonts, colours and content. The colour scheme will chance each issue, like magazines such as Grazia, Company or NME do. I'll have a basic scheme of black and white every issue, then another colour such as pink, blue or red will be used with it. This adds excitement and a different theme/feel to each issue of the magazine, this styl;e is also used in Company Magazine - one of my style models.

Initial Ideas

Q Magazine Analysis

Q magazine is a unisex music magazine aimed at people aged 25+. It is quite an expensive magazine as it is a mothly magazine with a substantial abount of information. The cover stars and feature stars are all very established faces within the music industry, such as Adele, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Shakira, who have made some sort of contribution to music today. You wouldn't find Rebecca Black or Conor Maynard in the magazine.

 

NME magazine Analysis

The cover, contents and double-page analysed here are from NME magazine, I chose to do this magazine specifically as it is a music magazine. It's audience demographic is primarily male, with an average of 77% of the readership being men. It is also read mostly by those aged 18-25, however readers ages ranges from 18 to 65+. A survery also shows most of the readers do not have children in the household. This is similar to the readership of Company, however primarily male.

NME covers all have the same house-style. The title 'NME' is printed in the top left-hand corner of the page and there is a banner along the top with a caption relative to the content. For example, 'GOD SAVE US FROM WILLS&KATE COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE', this issue was published around the time of the royal wedding and the magazine has references to the wedding and the royals throughout. All covers have a cover star or band, usually with a quirky quote from the interview with the star alongside them. The use of the picture and quote together draws the reader in as it gives them a idea of what kind of interview they'll find inside and what kind of person the star is, the quote and style of shot builds a persona. Unlike other magazines there aren't any side stories shown, it is focussed fully on the star, there are a few names of people featured throughout the magazine but it doesn't give anything away, which might either encourage potential readers to flick through it or cause them to dismiss the magazine as they don't know what might be inside.

The contents page is different as it doesn't have a long list of what can be found throughout, big stories are listed with pictures and quotes. There is a small list, 'PLUS', to show extra features. This may be because it is a weekly magazine so it is not got as many features as a monthly magazine, as they only have a week until the next release. I like the way it has been presented as I think it is less boring than a list that you have to scan through until you find something you're interested in.

This spread is similar to the Company double-page and most others of its kind. A picture covers two thirds of the page and there are two columns up the right-hand side. This presentation looks artistic and gives a lot of space for a big, expressive photograph to really show off the persona of the band.

Company Magazine Analysis

I have decided to analyse front cover, contents page and double page spreads for the same magazine, as then I will be able to see how house-style is continued throughout a magazine and how the cover and the content draws in the selected target audience. Although Company is not a music magazine it shares some conventions and is aimed towards a similar audience to what I am likely to aim my own product at. Company magazine claims it is 'for your freedom years' which suggests it is for women aged between 18 and 25 who are just starting out in their careers and haven't yet settled down into their future adult lives; marriage, children ect.

This cover really sums up the content of the magazine, it lists the best features inside the magazine and probably the ones that will best attract their reader. Such as 'obsessed with hair' with bullet points underneath expanding on what will be found within the feature. The cover star, Jade Thompson, had just won BINTM, a show heavily supported by the magazine throughout its showing as Company's editor worked closely with the show and probably watched by the reader, this means they would be interested in her feature. Especially as Company were the first magazine to get a photo shoot and interview with the model. This gives Company a good reputation and will encourage future sales. Jade is also wearing a leather get-up which was very fashionable at the time of publishing and matches tagline 'LADYLIKE LEATHER'.

I could not get a good picture of a Company magazine contents page, however I had analysed one from my own copy of company. This was a more recent version of company so the house style was slightly different as the magazine was re-launched at the start of 2012. The contents were spread over two pages, the first had a background featuring a model and Rizzle Kicks from a photo shoot used within a fashion feature in the magazine and a interview with Rizzle Kicks. Along the right-hand side is a pink box listing the contents. On the next page the contents list is continued, along with photograph with page numbers in them, referencing them to different articles listed on the page. This is good as when deciding whether or not a magazine is worth buying the potential buyer might flick through and look at the contents page, a picture supposedly speaks a thousand words and when in a rush you are more likely to take notice of pictures.

This is a Company double-page spread. Most of the space is take up by the picture, but this is along with the caption 'attitude? what attitude?' looks really good and gives the feature character and oomph. There is a column of writing introducing the interview which carries onto the next page. The picture has obviously been taken for the purpose of the article rather than just snapped by the paparazzi outside a club or while the celeb is doing their own day to day activities. This shows the star is in favour of the magazine, even though she was paid to be their, it gives the magazine a edge and encourages the reader to be a part of their readership.

Targeting an Audience

My style model is Grazia magazine which is aimed at middle-class women, aged 25-44, who are interested in fashion and celebrities. This audience is targeted in many ways, firstly by the content; celebrity gossip, current fashion, beauty tips and real-life stories. However there is more to it than that. Celebrity gossip is very specifically chosen, the magazine features stories about Victoria Beckham, Brangelina, Kate Moss, Kate Middleton... A list celebs the readers aspire to be like. You wouldn't see the likes of Kerry Katona or Snooki or the cover, as they just don't fit the classy, successful demographic posed by Grazia to the reader. Fashion pages won't be filled with primark and George @ Asda clothing, brands that frequently pop up are ASOS, Topshop, Whistles and Kurt Geiger. These names fit with the target audiences bank balance and give off a classier look than Primark. Similarly with beauty pages, you are more likely to see MAC cosmetics, Max Factor and Clarins than 17, Collection 2000 or Boots Own Skincare range. Competitions within the magazine offer bundles featuring accessories from the likes of Louboutin, Chanel and Stella McCartney which will appeal to the target audience as it's the kind of brand they would like to be seen with however it may be a stretch on their budget.

Another way the audience is targeted is by the new technologies used, such as the GRAZIADAILY.CO.UK site, that is updated everyday with the same kind of 'news' stories featured within the magazine. It also gives a sense of belonging to the readership if they are able to check a site everyday. Having a website also appeal specifically to their demographic as typically many of them will have very busy lifestyle, with new technologies readers will be able to quickly browse the site at work or get it their smartphones whilst on the go.